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íslenska

Guðjón Sveinsson

Bio

Guðjón Sveinsson was born at the farm Þverárhamar in Múlasýsla South on May 25, 1937. He studied at the Iceland School of Navigation, graduating in 1961. He has done a number of jobs through the years, been a sailor, first mate on a ship, teacher, shop assistant, clerk, been a farmer, as well as taking active part in social and union work. He has twice run for Alþingi, the Icelandic parliament. Guðjón was president of the youth association Hrafnkell Freysgoði from 1960 – 1966, and the Breiðdælingar Union from 1963 – 1975. He was also a member of the district council of Breiðdalur for close to twenty years, starting in 1970 and was reeve of the district for eight years. He ran for parliament for the People's Alliance in 1974 and 1978, was a member of the board of The Breiðdalur Fishing Factory for a few years and was chairman of the board from 1975 – 1976. He was on the library committee for Breiðdalshreppur district from 1970 and and has been a member of the board of the Forestry Association of Breiðdalshreppur since 1987.

Guðjón Sveinsson has mostly written books for children and teenagers, but also published poetry and numerous articles as well as taking an active part in social discourse by writing on social issues in papers and magazines. His poetry and short stories have also appeared in papers and journals. Guðjón’s first children's book, Njósnir að næturþeli (Spying by Night) came out in 1967. He received first prize in a competition hosted by The Association of Icelandic Language Teachers for his story Morgundögg (Morning Dew) in 1981.